Littleover Community School

BBC News School Report @ LCS

Do you know who is on your account?

By: Lylah


			Do you know who is on your account?

Social Media:

How many times do you check your social media in a typical day? How many times do people log into your account without you even realising? More than a quarter of accounts are being hacked or violated in the past year. This is roughly about 27.3% of the population. For hackers, it takes less than a few minutes to hack an account. Once they have hacked it, they have access to a lot of your private files and you wouldn’t know anything about it! This is why you should always change your passwords regularly and have different passwords for each social media. It has been found that more than 50% of UK citizens use the same password for every online network.Hacking an account could land you into a lot of trouble with the law! You could end up serving a sentence of up to 5 years and face a fine of £5,000. Why do these things when you could potentially be punished?

What could hackers do with your account?

It would be very scary to have your account hacked. If you have the same password for every online network, the hacker would have access to all of your social media accounts containing your private information. This could be very dangerous as they could read through all of your files and they could post anything online. It is very important that you always check your social media accounts. The hacker could find your house address or email address and he or she could attack your house or steal your identity. You would never know anything about their identity but they would know yours. Hackers can be any age, so never stereotype a hacker to be in their mid-forties and a man because they can be any age and gender!

How can you prevent this from happening?

The power is in your hands! Check your social media every day! Change your passwords regularly! Keep your account on private! Don’t have the same password for every online network! If you follow this advice, then this could prevent your account from being hacked! If you think your account is being hacked, report the account and tell everyone that your account has got hacked, make sure to report it immediately! If the hacker posts pictures of you then call the police. The police can track anyone and they would be able to track the hacker and send him or her to prison. They would be punished and your account would be reported and deleted. In a recent survey carried out amongst pupils and adults who have social media accounts, we have found out that 50% of people we surveyed check their social media accounts daily. Everyone we interviewed said that they do not have the same password for every social media account. These surveys were very interesting because we thought that most people had the same password for every account.Overall, looking at the survey, it is clear to say that social media is a big part of our lives which leaves us at more of a risk of getting hacked. It is important we stay safe online and keep our passwords protected.